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Five undergraduates from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are among the 550 students nationwide awarded U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarships to study critical languages this summer.

Fulbright grants providing opportunities for international educational, research and teaching experiences are available to 11 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students and young alumni this coming year.

Two University of Illinois seniors are among 221 nationwide recipients of David L. Boren Scholarships, awarded by the National Security Education Program to provide undergraduate students experience in world regions critical to U.S. interests.

Illinois professor Mara Wade has been awarded a Getty Residential Scholar Grant. She’ll use the residency to work on her book on the relationship between public monuments and cultural politics in the city of Nuernberg.

Scott E. Denmark, a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest professional honors a scientist can receive. Denmark is one of 84 new members and 21 foreign associates recognized for distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

The Secretariat organization at Illinois has named James McGraw, an administrative aide for the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, the 2018 Office Professional of the Year. The announcement was made at the organization’s April 18 luncheon. The Secretariat is a group comprised of U. of I. employees in certain civil service classifications. Rohit Bhargava, a professor of bioengineering, nominated McGraw for the annual award, which is celebrated during Administrative Professionals Week.

Animal sciences adjunct professor Vickie Jarrell has been elected to the Council on Accreditation for AAALAC International, a private, nonprofit organization that promotes responsible and humane treatment of animals in research.

Esther Ngumbi, a postdoctoral researcher at Illinois, has been selected as the Society for Experimental Biology’s SEB+ section 2018 President’s Medallist. Candidates for the medal are selected on the basis of their outstanding contribution to one of the four fields of research represented by the SEB’s four sections (SEB+, plant, cell and animal biology).

Three University of Illinois students have been nationally recognized with Barry M. Goldwater scholarships, which support students with potential to contribute to the advancement of research in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering. A fourth Illinois student was selected for honorable mention

The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities at the U. of I. has awarded its annual faculty and graduate student fellowships for the 2018-19 academic year to seven faculty members and seven graduate students. IPRH also announced the Ragdale Residential Creative Fellow for 2018.

Ruth Nicole Brown, a professor of gender and women’s studies at Illinois, received a Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship for $50,000 to expand Black Girls Genius Week, a series of humanities-based workshops for African-American middle school- and high school-aged girls, from central Illinois to Chicago, San Diego and Columbia, South Carolina.

The Ecological Society of America has named Wendy H. Yang, a professor of plant biology and geology at Illinois, as an Early Career Fellow. The society’s fellowship program recognizes the many ways in which its members contribute to ecological research and discovery, communication, education, pedagogy, management and policy.

Leah Matchett, of Grand Haven, Michigan, and an alumna of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is one of 49 students selected in the first year of the Knight-Hennessy Scholar program for postgraduate study at Stanford University.

The National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students recognized Holly Herrera, the coordinator of transfer advising at Illinois, with the Bonita C. Jacobs Transfer Champion Rising Star Award. She will be honored Wednesday, Feb. 7, during the opening session of the 16th Annual Conference of the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students at Loews Atlanta Hotel.

The American Concrete Pavement Association presented its 2017 Hartmann-Hirschman-Egan Award to Michael I. Darter, principal engineer with Applied Research Associates, Inc. and a professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at Illinois.

Six University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign faculty members have been awarded National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships for 2018. It is the third year in the last four that the Urbana campus has garnered more fellowship awards than any other single institution.

The Secretariat organization at Illinois announced that Susan Key, the director of portfolio human resources in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research has been named the 2017 Boss of the Year.

The Secretariat is comprised of U. of I. staff members in certain civil services classifications. Kate Day nominated Key, her supervisor, for the annual award, which is celebrated during Bosses Week each year.

Susan L. Conrad, the office manager for the Department of Journalism in the College of Media, received the Bess G. Matteson Award at a Nov. 15 luncheon. The Secretariat, an on-campus organization comprised of U. of I. staff members in certain civil services classifications, makes the award.

Gaines Hall, an associate dean emeritus in the College of Fine and Applied Arts, received the 2017 Gold Medal Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects Illinois Council. The Gold Medal Honor Award is the organization’s highest honor, recognizing exemplary contributions to the discipline and profession of architecture.

Sharon M. Donovan, a professor of nutrition and the Melissa M. Noel Endowed Chair in Nutrition and Health at the University of Illinois, was elected today (Oct. 16) to the National Academy of Medicine.

John Lynn, a professor emeritus of history at Illinois, has received a selective NEH Public Scholar award less than six months after receiving the highest career award in the field of military history.

The Institute of Contemporary Art’s “artful book club,” ICA Reads, has selected “Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation” as its 2017 pick for a book of critical and societal importance. A reinterpretation of Octavia E. Butler’s science-fiction masterpiece “Kindred,” the book was adapted by School of Information Sciences at Illinois alumnus and adjunct lecturer Damian Duffy and illustrated by John Jennings. A New York Times bestseller, the novel tells the story of a young black woman’s time-travel between her home in 1970s California and a plantation in the antebellum South.

James H. Kuklinski, a professor emeritus of political science at Illinois, has been honored with the 2017 Hazel Gaudet Erskine Political Psychology Career Achievement Award, given by the American Political Science Association’s Political Psychology Section.

Brian Brauer, the associate director for the Illinois Fire Service Institute, will receive the 2017 Outstanding Dissertation Award on June 21 at Auburn University. Brauer’s doctoral dissertation presented a case study of an Illinois fire department that underwent organizational culture change following a firefighter’s line-of-duty death.

Fourteen University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students and young alumni will pursue international educational, research and teaching experiences this coming year via student Fulbright grants. Applications are open for Fulbright grants for the 2018-19 academic year.

Three Illinois students have been awarded Critical Language Scholarships to study a foreign language this summer: Adam LoBue, of Brooklyn, New York; Jenny Peruski, of Bangkok; and Eileen Witthoff, of DeKalb, Illinois.

Twelve faculty members were honored with the Provost’s Campus Distinguished Promotion Award for 2017. During its annual promotion review process, the Campus Committee on Promotion and Tenure identifies scholars whose contributions have been extraordinary in terms of quality of work and overall achievement.

Yue Zhuo, a postdoctorate fellow in the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory and at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at Illinois, has been awarded a Postdoctoral Scholar Award for a paper that was submitted to the annual Microscopy and Microanalysis Conference.

Three University of Illinois students have been nationally recognized for their potential to contribute to the advancement of research in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering. One student was awarded a Barry M. Goldwater scholarships for the next two academic years, and two others earned honorable mentions.

Champaign, Ill. – Faculty and staff members and graduate teaching assistants at the U. of I. were honored for excellence in teaching, mentoring and advising at an April 26 reception at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center.

College of education faculty member Hua-Hua Chang will receive 2017 E.F. Lindquist Award from the American Educational Research Association and the American College Testing Program at the AERA Awards Luncheon on April 29. The luncheon will take place during the AERA’s annual meeting, April 27-May 1 in San Antonio.

Seven academic professionals were honored with 2017 Chancellor's Academic Professional Excellence awards at a reception April 6. Now in its 29th year, the program honors the accomplishments and contributions of academic professionals, who provide critical support for administration, research laboratories and educational programs, and offer important outreach programs throughout the state.

Princess U II Imoukhuede, a professor of bioengineering, is the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award for her proposal “qBio+cBio=sBio; Identifying the role of cross-family signaling in angiogenesis.”more

The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities at the U. of I. awarded its annual faculty and graduate student fellowships for the 2017-18 academic year to seven faculty members and seven graduate students. IPRH also announced its inaugural class of New Horizons summer research fellows for 2017. The program supports faculty summer research and pays for an undergraduate research assistant to support the project.

Illini Emergency Medical Services recently won three competitive awards: Striving for Excellence in Campus EMS, Collegiate EMS Video of the Year and Collegiate EMS Advisor of the Year. The awards were presented at the 24th annual National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation conference in Baltimore in late February. IEMS is one of 246 campus-based emergency medical services organizations in North America, and one of 100 that attended the conference.

Aerospace engineering professor John Lambros and his Ph.D. student, Owen Kingstedt, were recognized with the 2017 Society of Experimental Mechanics M. Hetényi Award. An aerospace engineering faculty member since 2000, Lambros has simultaneously garnered SEM’s 2017 P.S. Theocaris Award, which recognizes a senior individual for distinguished, innovative and outstanding work in optical methods and experimental mechanics.more